


The More Things Change

by stargatefan_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Drama, Episode: s10e01 Flesh and Blood, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-21
Updated: 2008-11-21
Packaged: 2018-12-17 17:09:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11856000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stargatefan_archivist/pseuds/stargatefan_archivist
Summary: Would Daniel really have killed the young Orici?





	The More Things Change

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Yuma, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [Stargatefan.com](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Stargatefan.com). To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [StargateFan Archive Collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/StargateFan_Archive_Collection).

Sam flicked her pen against the papers spread out in front of her and watched Daniel read, a slight frown on her face. 

They’d both brought work with them to the commissary. There wasn’t always time to stop working to eat. It was companionable and efficient—usually. She couldn’t concentrate today.

Flick… Flick… Flick…

Her eyebrows pulled together as her frown deepened. Some things never changed. Daniel still confused her sometimes.

Flick… Flick… Flick…

“Sam, you’re channeling Jack.” Daniel had his eyes on the page, but an eyebrow was raised.

“What?”

He lifted his eyes from the book and looked at her over the top of his glasses. “Annoying fiddling with objects that aren’t nailed down. That’s more Jack’s modus operandi than yours.”

“Oh. Sorry.” She tossed the pen onto the papers.

“And you’ve been frowning at me for the last fifteen minutes.”

“Not at you, really, I was just thinking.”

“About?”

“That tank of larval Goa’uld on Chulak.”

“Uh… really?” Now both eyebrows were raised. He blinked. “That was—nine years ago…”

“Well, I was thinking… The thing with the Oraci, Adria. It’s kind of the same.” 

Daniel sighed and closed his book. “Ah, I see.”

“No, you probably don’t, because you were right—about the Goa’uld. Genetic memory corrupts them from birth. The thing is, we didn’t know that then. How did you know, Daniel?”

His mouth tightened and he reached for his coffee. “I didn’t know, not the way you mean. I just knew that the Goa’uld enslave at every stage of their lives, first Jaffa, then hosts. I knew that each of those larval Goa’uld would create at least two slaves for the System Lords. With the number of Goa’uld in that tank, well, that was a lot of slaves.” Daniel frowned and drank from his cup.

“But you also knew that the Jaffa needed them to stay alive, once their immune systems had been destroyed by a symbiote.”

“We were killing a lot of Jaffa, Sam.”

She didn’t have an answer for that. “So you were thinking about the end result of letting them live, more than what they were.”

“No, I was thinking about what they were, too. There was some hate there. There still is.” One side of his mouth turned up in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “It just wasn’t the only reason.”

Sam nodded slowly. “And Adria?”

“Is as corrupt as the Goa’uld ever were. She is the embodiment of the Ori made flesh.” His eyebrows pulled together in the frown that had become more and more habitual over the years.

“Vala thinks she can reach her, that she has a connection.”

Daniel shook his head and put his cup down. “I don’t think so. It was worth a try, but… That’s not a child. I don’t know why one of the Ori would find the concept of family interesting, but that’s all it is; a quaint hobby, a side interest that has nothing to do with her main goal. There is no child there to be saved. I’m as sure about that as I was about the nature of the Goa’uld. She’s just wearing the body of a child like a Goa’uld wears the body of a host, and she’s even less, because this body was never a free being. Adria is the gateway to Ori domination of the galaxy, the only way for them to come here. If the prior hadn’t pulled the gun from my hand, I would have shot her.”

“He pulled it away as soon as you drew your weapon?”

“No.” He gave her a sharp look. “There was a delay of two or three seconds. I hesitated.”

“Why? You said you were sure.”

“I knew in my head, but…” Daniel’s eyes dropped to the book in front of him. “It’s hard to pull the trigger when it looks like a child, even when you know otherwise.” He looked back at Sam, his eyes tight and resolute. “If he hadn’t taken the gun when he did, though…”

Sam was beyond glad that Daniel wouldn’t have to live with that image, the image of a child dead by his hand. His mind might know that wasn’t the case, but she knew his heart would feel differently. “I guess I’m sorry that my teammate wasn’t able to kill the leader of the Ori armies, but I’m not sorry that my friend hesitated.” 

“Well, it’s not an issue now.” He gave a small, regretful smile. “It’s been two days. She’ll be fully grown and spreading her army across the galaxy. I just hope that wasn’t our best opportunity to stop her.”

It might be harder to stop Adria now, but Sam couldn’t feel sorry that they hadn’t done it that way. Daniel was thinking about ending the threat of the Ori, not about himself. They would find another way, a way that didn’t involve him making that kind of sacrifice. He did that too much. “We’ll find a way. We have to.” She smiled. “And if I know you, you’ll come up with some kind of plan—probably a crazy one.”

“Why, Colonel Carter, are you implying that I’m mentally unbalanced?” An eyebrow lifted over his glasses.

“No, just crazy.”

Daniel raised both eyebrows high and turned his attention back to his book.

“In a good way.” Sam picked up her pen, her thoughts still more on Daniel than her work. That two or three seconds—she was willing to bet it wasn’t just hesitation. His thoughts were probably racing through all the things he’d just said, weighing the possibility of saving Adria, and coming up empty. The day Daniel blindly killed an innocent would be the day that hell truly froze over. When he’d destroyed the Goa’uld tank, all those years ago, she’d worried that he was losing that part of himself. She’d been wrong. There were lots of reasons to worry about Daniel, but that wasn’t one of them. Some things stayed the same. A slow smile spread across her face.

Flick… Flick… Flick…

Flick… Flick… Flick…

Flick… Flick…

Daniel closed his book, set it to one side, and looked at her. “Sam… What are you doing?”

Her smile widened. “I’m starting to understand why the general enjoys this.” 

“Oh, that’s just… wonderful.” 

Flick… Flick… Flick…

“I think I need a break, Daniel. Want to go to the weight room? We can work off lunch.”

Flick…

He pushed back his chair, picked up his book, and stood. “Okay, let’s go. It’s either that or go to my office and hide from the annoying pen.”

Sam gathered up her notes. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

“What?” Daniel tilted his head and lifted an eyebrow.

“I thought you might say that.”


End file.
